Sunday, July 5, 1998 Last modified at 1:32 a.m. on Sunday, July 5, 1998

Death penalty focus of protest

LONDON (AP) - Wielding an 18-foot high papier-mache Grim Reaper, several dozen demonstrators protested outside the U.S. Embassy on Saturday to denounce the use of the death penalty in the United States.

The demonstrators, affiliated with the human rights group Amnesty International, held banners listing the 468 people who have been executed in the United States since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Noa Kleinman, Amnesty's coordinator for the United States and Canada, said the rally was intended to show support for recent anti-death penalty demonstrations outside the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington.

Capital punishment is allowed in 38 U.S. states.

The protesters also wanted to draw attention to the case of Kenneth Richey, currently on death row in an Ohio prison awaiting the outcome of his federal court appeals. Richey is the son of a Scottish mother and an American father.

If his sentence is carried out, it would be Ohio's first execution in 35 years.

Ohio police arrested the 35-year-old Richey in June 1986 on charges of arson, aggravated murder of a three-year-old girl and breaking and entering into the apartment of the girl's mother.

"Kenny Richey has suffered almost 12 years of inhumane treatment and physical and emotional pain," said Karen Torley, who has organized a campaign to free Richey.